Texas: judge rules against Black high school teen in hair discrimination case

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed by a Black high school student who alleged that school officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him for refusing to change his hairstyle.

The ruling in the case of Darryl George was another victory for the Barbers Hill school district near Houston, which has said its policy restricting hair length for male students instills discipline while teaching grooming and respect for authority.

George, 18, was kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, when he was a junior, because the school district said his hair length violated its dress code. George either served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill high school in Mont Belvieu or spent time at an off-site disciplinary program.

George and his mother, Darresha George, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last year against the school district, the district superintendent, his principal and assistant principal as well as Texas governor Greg Abbott and attorney general Ken Paxton.